Gravitation

Massive black holes binaries as probes of the Universe.

Massive black holes are located in the centre of all massive galaxies. During the encounter of galaxies those black holes pair and, after some hardening period, become sources of gravitational waves (GWs).  Binaries at the early stage of inspiral emit almost monochromatic GWs and the population of massive black hole binaries (MBHBs) is the main source for the Pulsar Timing Array (PTA).  In PTA we use radio emission from the millisecond pulsars to detect GWs in the nano-Hz frequency band.

Disentangling and characterizing astrophysical GW signals with LISA

LISA is a space-based gravitational wave (GW) observatory which is planned for launch in 2034. It consists of three satellites in the free fall in the heliocentric orbit forming an equilateral triangle. Satellites exchange the laser light forming transponding interferometry allowing to detect GWs in the mHz band.  A plethora of gravitational-wave signals from different astrophysical sources is expected to be observed by LISA. These sources include galactic white dwarf binaries, extreme mass-ratio inspirals, massive black hole binaries, etc.

A Lunar Seismic and Gravitational Antenna (LSGA)

We propose a thesis for the study of the scientific potential and technical feasibility of a Lunar Seismic and Gravitational Antenna (LSGA). LSGA is a response to the call of ideas of ESA for a Lunar Lander. It concerns the deployment of an engineered fiber distributed acoustic sensor system (EFDAS) on the lunar surface, in complementarity and projected increase of sensitivity, to the Very Broad Band VBBZ Farside Seismic Suite (VBBZ-FSS).

Disentangling astrophysical populations of GW signals and characterizing their properties with LISA

LISA is a space-based gravitational wave (GW) observatory which is planned for launch in 2034. It consists of three satellites in the free fall in the heliocentric orbit forming an equilateral triangle. Satellites exchange the laser light forming transponding interferometry allowing to detect GWs in the mHz band.  A plethora of gravitational-wave signals from different astrophysical sources is expected to be observed by LISA. These sources include galactic white dwarf binaries, extreme mass-ratio inspirals, massive black hole binaries, etc.

Gravitation